City Council - City Services Committee Hearing on Docket #0773

Chair Edward Flynn opened the hearing on Docket #0773, sponsored by Councilors Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Sharon Durkan, and Ruthzee Louijeune.

• Administration Overview and Program Statistics:

  • Chief of Streets Chris Osgood, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space Brian Swett, and Director of Waste Policy and Planning Avantika Mathur delivered a presentation outlining Boston's waste management and food diversion streams.
  • Boston generates roughly 1.1 million tons of waste annually (based on 2018 audit data), with 80% coming from commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors and 20% (about 240,000 tons across 250,000 households) handled through residential curbside collection.
  • The total municipal waste collection and disposal budget is approximately $70 million: $45 million for collection contracts, $20 million for disposal contracts (trash to waste-to-energy facilities; recyclables to the Casella materials recovery facility in Charlestown), and $8 million for specialized diversion (food waste, mattress collection, and hazardous waste days).
  • The curbside food waste program, launched as a pilot in 2022 and contracted to vendor Garbage to Garden, currently serves 27,000 enrolled households (capped at residential buildings with six units or fewer), collecting approximately 2,800 tons of food waste per year at an annual cost of roughly $2.7 million. There are currently nine collection trucks deployed under the contract.
  • The drop-off food waste program, Project Oscar, operates 24/7/365 across 20 citywide sites, diverting 132 tons annually at a program cost of $120,000 via vendor Black Earth Compost.
  • Of the 2,800 tons collected curbside, approximately 15% to 20% goes to North Shore commercial composting sites, while 80% to 85% is transported to the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District for co-digestion with wastewater via anaerobic digestion to generate biogas and non-food agricultural digestate.

• Biweekly Collection Service Change:

  • Effective October 5, 2026, curbside food waste pickup will transition from weekly to biweekly (every other week) service. The city will be split into Zone A (service beginning the week of October 5) and Zone B (service beginning the week of October 12).
  • Vendor monitoring showed that roughly 70% of enrolled households set out bins weekly under the existing schedule.
  • The change will save approximately $700,000 annually, reduce local collection truck emissions, and enable the immediate absorption of the current 1,600-to-1,700-household waitlist while creating capacity for additional enrollees beyond the list.
  • To accommodate the biweekly frequency, participating residents may request a larger 12-gallon bin at no added cost to replace standard 5-gallon buckets or request a second bin.

• Council Discussion and Inquiries:

  • Councilor Coletta Zapata emphasized the Zero Waste goal of 80% diversion by 2035, the need for municipal partnerships to develop regional composting facilities, and preparedness for potential Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) residential food waste regulations anticipated around 2028.
  • Councilor Louijeune highlighted the need for equitable outreach and language access in communities like Mattapan, asked for normalized per-capita participation maps, and addressed resident pest and odor concerns regarding biweekly storage without freezer space.
  • Councilor Murphy inquired about participation tracking, bin reclamation protocols for inactive households, and compost expansion in Boston Public Schools (noting 40 schools with farm-to-table programming) and Boston Housing Authority (BHA) properties.
  • Councilor Fitzgerald discussed public education to clarify the destination and reuse of diverted recyclables and organic waste, and examined the limits of in-city facility siting versus regional transfer points.
  • Councilor Durkan addressed collection density and route efficiency, noting that denser multitenant housing remains ineligible for curbside service while drop-off sites like Beacon Hill's Project Oscar bin operate at high capacity. She advocated for long-term regional composting infrastructure investment to expand processing beyond anaerobic digestion limits.
  • Chair Flynn raised specific concerns regarding rodent and pest mitigation, multilingual outreach, and containerization constraints in dense neighborhoods such as Chinatown and the Leather District, proposing a working Zoom session with community liaisons and inspectional staff prior to the October rollout.